The challenge in developing an effective therapy and prophylaxis for viral disease is to achieve inhibition of viral processes without producing extreme side effects and preferably without inducing viral resistance. Since viral replication requires use of the cellular apparatus of the host, treating virus infection by inhibiting viral replication can be lethal to the infected host cells as well. Ideally, the virus should be destroyed or inactivated in the host prior to its invasion of host cells. This is normally accomplished, with varying degrees of success, by the host's immune system, but this mechanism requires an earlier immune response, either by a prior infection or by vaccination. Further, many viruses, such as Herpes Simplex viruses (HSV) are able to effectively elude a host's immune systems, and at least one virus, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is known to cripple the host's immune system (Gottlieb).
Currently, the most widely used anti-viral agents are nucleoside analogs. This class of drugs acts by disrupting viral replication, either by inhibiting enzymes required for nucleic acid processing, or by producing defective viral genome, such as by premature termination of replication. As an example, acyclovir, a purine analog used in treating a variety of viral diseases, including herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) and herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) inhibits viral replication at several key points, including inhibition of viral thymidine kinase and DNA polymerase, and DNA strand elongation (Elion). Ribavirin, another purine analog, is the drug of choice in treating respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV) infection. This compound appears to act by reducing cellular GTP levels, blocking the action of several GTP-dependent viral processes (Smith). To date, the most common drug treatment of HIV infection is with zidovudine (Azidothymidine; AZT), a thymidine analog which is particularly effective against human retroviruses. AZT acts with high affinity to block viral RNA-dependent DNA polymerase (reverse transcriptase), but does also block human DNA- polymerase and causes chain termination (Mitsuya).
Other nucleic acid analogs include ganciclovir, vidarabine, idoxuridine, trifluridine and foscarnet (an inorganic phosphate analog). As indicated above, all of these drugs, by blocking viral replication, also have the capacity to disrupt and normal host replication and/or DNA transcription processes as well.
Understanding of the mechanisms of infection and replication of viruses has lead to alternate drug therapies, including attempts to block viral entry into cells, alter protein synthesis at the host ribosomes, complexation of viral DNA/RNA, and immunomodulation. Interferons are glycoproteins which have complex actions including enhancement of certain immune responses as well as direct antiviral action. They are more competent in preventing infection, rather than treating established viral infection, and their use leads to undesirable problems including acute, serious discomfort, bone marrow suppression, viral resistance, and development of host immune response to the interferon.
Treatment with "anti-sense" polymers of nucleic acids is a method in which the particular viral genome is the select target. The treatment provides a highly discriminating approach which would be expected to have minimal side-effects; its use as a therapeutic is hampered by problems of targeting, introduction into cells, and the quantity of material that would be required to block each strand produced. Agents which bind to and interfere with host ribosomal protein synthesis will block viral replication. These include the toxin ricin, various plant proteins such as pokeweed anti-viral protein, alpha sarcin, and other low molecular weight compounds. The weakness with the use of these materials is their lack of selectivity. In the treatment of HIV, additional therapy has been developed by specifically targeting the unique retroviral enzyme, reverse transcriptase. Non-retroviral systems do not produce or use this enzyme, but the virus cannot replicate without it.
In some instances, understanding of structural aspects of the mechanisms of replication of viruses has provided additional drug therapies. Certain viruses, including orthomyxoviruses and paramyxovirus, herpes viruses, togaviruses and retroviruses, contain a viral envelope which surrounds the viral capsid and nucleic acid. During cell infection by an enveloped virus, the plasma membrane of the host cell is altered to include some viral-coded proteins and, as the viral nucleoprotein core exits the host cell in which it was assembled, it becomes enveloped with the modified membrane, thus forming the viral envelop. Because this structure is unique to host cells when they are virally infectious and distinct from normal cells, it can serve as an additional target for therapeutic assault.